Tag: listening

Early last week, I became annoyingly frustrated at my 13yr old daughter. Ever since she’s crossed over into “TEEN-VILLE” I’ve noticed her attitude has changed tremendously, every time I tell her what she’s going to do, the first thing that comes out of her mouth is “I Can’t Do That” or “Why??” or “That’s not for Me” or “Mama, but I” I mean don’t get me wrong, I understand when the crossover happens, everything goes haywire in their minds. Their bodies are changing, their attitudes are unbearable and their mindsets are totally different.

What happened to that 5Ib little cute baby I brought home from the hospital, the one that would stay seated when I said too and when I talked, she listened. The girl that once used to smile brightly and be grateful for everything she got, has now become the teenager whom gives me such looks as this one….

As mama used to say, “When children are young, they’re on your lap but when they get older, they’re on your heart.” and she couldn’t have been more right. So, while I gather my heart strings together, let’s move on shall we to what I really want to convey. Every parent glories in the fact when their child comes to them and asks for advice, at that particular time, that’s our moment to shine. It’s our moment to give our kids the good, solid knowledge and wisdom that we obtained over the years. However; once we give that information to them, it hurts when they don’t take the advice and decide to do it the way they had planned in their head all along.

This was the dilemma I faced with my daughter. She came telling me about the lockers at school and how they were hard to get into. The teacher showed them how to unlock them, but they only showed them one time. My daughter went on to explain how she has been having the hardest time getting into her locker, last year was easy because they had to bring their own locks but now the 8th grade halls are filled with lockers that already have pre-set locks on them. So, she was complaining about how she didn’t have anyone to help her with her combination. “Mom to the Rescue” I said – Why not ask your friends? “They’re all busy and I don’t want to bother them” (puzzled) but they’re your friends…., okay, well what about asking your teacher for help again and so forth and so on, each time I came up with a possible solution – she kept coming up with excuses as to why my plan wouldn’t work. The more scenarios I came up with the more she debunked them…

Finally she said, “I’m just going to carry my stuff around, It’s really no big deal” By this time I had gotten a little frustrated and just told her to do what she wanted to do. But at the same time, I thought – Okay, so why did you come to me again?

As I walked on the treadmill that morning – I began to think about the situation with my daughter and how it related to God. I began to wonder how God must feel when we come to him with an issue and he gives us a solution but we make excuses as to why his way wouldn’t work and why our way is better. And I’m sure like me, he wants to say – But, Would you just listen to me?

Shunning my daughter away after a failed success of listening etiquette, is exactly how God does us. When we refuse to listen to his way, he let’s us go to do it our way and when our way fails?, unlike our so-called friends whom shame us by saying such lines as “I told you so” or “See, you should have listened to me” or “You feel crazy now, don’t you” and in most cases, they wash their hands of you altogether – All because you didn’t “listen” to their instructions. But if you’ve suffered or paid the price for not listening to God (and I believe we all have) Get ready to be celebrated because God in all his mercy and grace doesn’t do us like that, he’s not the God that’s going to make you feel badder than what you already feel, instead he accepts us back with forgiving arms.

And that’s how I did my daughter when she came back to me that same day to apologize. Just as a good parent would do, God is available to give you his wisdom and instructions for you to have a good life, what seems like the right choice in our head at the moment; may not be the same way in which God would like for us to handle the situation. I promise and it’s not always popular – But getting advice from God is the best way, it may take you longer to get through it, but you can rest assured that the end result will be a “sweet success”

While I continue to work on my patience with my daughters up and down ways, God wants to know from you today “Would you just listen to Me?” – Are you listening?…

Are you making the Best use of the resources that God has blessed you with? Most of us have asked God for things and as the bible tells us, If our ways are pleasing in his sight then no good thing will he withhold from us (paraphrasing) but you can read it for yourself (Psalms 84:11).

God rejoices when we ‘do right’ and is willing to give us our hearts desire, but what about the times when we ask and don’t receive? Now I know some things that we ask for are not received because we ask ‘amiss’ meaning; James 4:3 (NLT) says –And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.So that’s the reasoning why most of us (including myself) don’t get most of the blessings we pray for because we are asking for them with the wrong ‘motives’ in mind.

Outside of those types of ‘missed’ blessings, there are blessings that God does allow us to receive and he gives them to us but if you’re not looking closely, following specific directions or reading the right signs, the blessing could be sitting right in front of you but because it’s not wrapped in shiny wrapping paper with a bow as you were looking for it too You’ve become blinded to that blessings and begin to think that God didn’t hear you at all. He Blessed you with it, but you just don’t realize it.

Being blinded makes us miss on the smallest details concerning the blessing that God has for us due to the fact that the blessing may come with resources that’s intended to help us before the BIG Blessing arrives. For Instance; About a year ago I got the epiphany to start my own magazine company, It was something that I felt so strong in my spirit to do but had ‘NO’ magazine experience to the first. Yes, I’ve always loved to write but have never been published or recognized in any format for it. Well, in order to have a magazine company you first have to work for a magazine or have some type of experience in that area; I on the other hand wanted to shoot straight for the stars. So I began to pray and tell God what I wanted to do.

About a month later, sitting at home; I got the urgency to browse for jobs – the urgency was not to not browse for jobs within my current career field but I felt a push to apply for writing jobs; in which felt really weird to me because it was definitely out of my comfort zone – as I began to type things into the search engine, I came across an ad that was looking for interns to write for a magazine, so to make a long story short after applying and completing a ‘writers resume’ (something I’ve never done before – Thank God for Google!) I submitted it, within a day got a call and the following week there I was writing for a magazine. God is Good! But what if I had been blinded to the nudge within my spirit to take that chance all because it didn’t feel right or was out of my comfort zone. What I came to find out is that the nudge was God providing a resource for me, God knew that I wouldn’t be able to start a company without first having some experience – in which we all need in order to move to our next level. If I had allowed blindness to take over, I would have missed out on the resource that God was providing in order to get me to the next level. He’s even blessed me to partner with another site and do some writing, Ultimately we have to believe that ‘All things work together for our Good’ (Rom 8:28).

You see, a lot of times when we pray for something we look for God to bring it already equipped for us to just walk into it; not realizing that we have to do a couple of things first in order to per-fect it. A person that’s looking to start a business, may not be business savvy at first, but God heard you and sent ‘out of the blue’ a free business event to town that will give you the basics of the how’s, to’s and what’s of a business – but due to blindness you overlook that and continue to pray that God allow you to start the business. The blessing provided was the event in which God sent to town in order to brush you up on a couple of skills so that way he can bless you to the business that you desire (Do you see where I’m coming from?)

Don’t become blinded to the small details of the blessing that God has in store for you. Sometimes we have to crawl before we walk. If you feel you may be blinded to the things that God has already laid out before you; then starting today ask him to open your eyes to see what resources and/or blessings you’ve not yet discovered due to blinded eyes and take advantage of the resources that God sends first to prepare you for the real Blessing to come.

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If you don’t mind I’m going to be transparent for a few and chat with my sisters about the power of influence.

One morning, while getting a ride from my friend to work, as we were chatting I was scrolling through FB and I saw the word ZEN. So I said “Drik, what exactly does Zen mean?” She said meditating or something like that. I said “oh”… and I as I sat there and thought about Zen a thought jumped in my mind and it sounded like “As Christians we don’t believe in that”. Immediately I realized that that was an idea I had always thought because that’s what I was told. The very next thing that came to mind were a few other beliefs I had and how those too were things I believed because it’s what I was told. Instantly I started to get a little uneasy because several ideas and views that I had adopted played in my mind and they all had 1 thing in common… They were all views I had because of what I was told.

So I got to work and it was still heavy on my heart because now, I’ve realized that not only could I have been living a lie but I recognized that a lot of my ideas and views up until that moment had been created through the influences in my life and whether or not it was true it was true to them and had been true to me because I believed it and didn’t even attempt to challenge its validity. So I’m at work listening to my favorite worship music and I felt it in my spirit…. The power of influence and the importance of your circle. As I felt that, thoughts started to come and I made a decision right there that something had to change!!

I realized that my views about life, my life and other people all stemmed from the opinions and thoughts of others. I began to see how although I KNEW God had greater plans for me and that there was more to life for me I allowed myself to be stuck. I was stuck in someone else’s “box”. Handicapped from moving forward in my own truth because I was too stuck in theirs. See the truth is those that I surrounded myself with didn’t have the same dreams as me. They didn’t see what I saw, feel what I felt or even believe what I believed. I believed there was more for me…. They couldn’t see that for themselves.

See when I was ready to move forward in my dream those influences would say things like “Girl you know they say”and in my mind I’d wonder who was they?? And why did I care what they had to say? Because the truth is I only care about what HE says. But those “They say Nay-Sayers” had a hold on me and what I believed.

That day in the car I had a revelation and it all began with the word Zen… Zen led me to see the power of influences, the need to release my mind from them and to the importance of my circle. As I sat there at my desk I wrote “surround yourself with people that influence you to be you. People that encourage you to think for yourself and foster your own opinions. People that challenge you and hold you accountable. Not the “They say Nay-Sayers” Why does what they say matter?? Pray for discernment and revelation.”

So my sister.. I ask you.. Who have you allowed to influence you? Who are the “They say Nay-Sayers” in your life?? Surround yourself with people that influence you to be you. People that encourage you to think for yourself and foster your own opinions. People that challenge you and hold you accountable. Not the “They say Nay-Sayers” Honestly, why does what they say matter??

Pray for discernment and revelation.

Ask God to reveal any negative influences to you, and then ask for the strength to release your mind from “their box.” Your circle is important to the next level in your life and your destiny awaits you.

BeBOLD

BeBEAUTIFUL

BeYOU

-Shanae

Shanae Artis: Makeup Artist Beauty, Educator and owner of SAM Image Consulting Co. is committed to influencing change in the lives of every woman she encounters. Through personal experience, Shanae recognizes there is a need for women to know the importance of having a positive self-image and presenting themselves in a way that promotes a successful lifestyle. Shanae has a genuine heart to motivate and educate. Through her gifts, creativity and down to earth personality Shanae is inspiring women to act on their desire for a better lifestyle starting with transforming how they see and present themselves.

SAM Image Consulting Co. is a lifestyle brand, promoting confidence and capability. Shanae believes as women, the way we carry ourselves speaks to how we feel about ourselves. Also, as women, we are all capable of putting forth our best effort. She understands when we look good, we feel good and we do great. SAM is teaching real women how to do their own makeup in simple, easy to follow and time efficient ways.

Whether you need an encouraging word, make-up tips or a beauty consultation; Shanae is your one stop shop!! – You can Follow Shanae via the contact information below: